Land Rover's New Straight-Six Engine Won't Fit In the 2020 Evoque

It may not look like it, but the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque is completely redesigned for the 2020 model year. Despite the evolutionary styling of the model, Land Rover says the only carryover pieces are the crossover’s door hinges.

That’s good news for the smallest Range Rover model, whose stiff chassis and isolated cabin impressed us during our first-drive through Greece. Power comes courtesy of one of two turbocharged 2.0-liter engines, each producing 246 horsepower (183 kilowatts) and 296 hp (221 kW), respectively.

While we don’t know if Land Rover has plans to offer the Evoque with even more power, we do know that if the brand decides to do so, it won’t come from Land Rover’s recently announced, forced induction 3.0-liter inline-six engine.

“The engine [in the Evoque] is a transverse, so the chassis hasn’t been designed to have a [longitudinal engine],” said Dave Larsen, Jaguar Land Rover North America’s product and launch planning director, in regards to the new six-cylinder engine fitting under the little Range Rover’s hood. This means the brand’s inline-six is limited to vehicles such as the Discovery, Range Rover, and Range Rover Sport, the latter of which is the sole Land Rover model currently using the powertrain.

Although our dreams of a six-cylinder Evoque appear dead, we’re still hopeful that Land Rover will introduce an Evoque with more than 300 horsepower (224 kilowatts). After all, we’re sure the brand’s Special Vehicle Operations will find a way to pull some additional ponies from the Evoque’s four-cylinder engine.